Landscape: Social and Environmental Rebecca Thorp: s1307336 AD6802
Contents Initial Proposal
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Tutor Feedback
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Fay Godwin
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Paul Hill
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First Shoot – Pitstone Quarry
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Field Lecture
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Chosen Images
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New Proposal
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Raymond Moore
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John Davies
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John Myers
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Test Shoot One - Cheltenham
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Bernd and Hilla Becher
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Mark Power
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Paul Graham
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Donovan Wylie
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John Duncan
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Cheltenham Shoot Two
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Simon Roberts
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Cheltenham Shoot Three
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Cheltenham Shoot Four
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Need to Re Shoot
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Cheltenham Last Minute Re Shoot
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Printing Options
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Getting Ready to Print
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Getting it Right
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Final Images
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Prints Arrival
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The New Topographics
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Second 8x10 Shoot
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Third 8x10 Shoot
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Last 8x10 Shoot
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Getting Work on the Walls
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Informative Exhibition Description
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Final 8x10 Prints
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Evaluation
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Initial Proposal Within this project I want to continue looking at how we as humans effect the landscape in which we live, and how to it being shaped for future generations both in a positive and negative way. In this project I want to document the mining industry within Britain, not coal mines but open stone mines such as Pitstone quarry and Huntsman’s quarries. Firstly I want to document the before, empty fields or forests. From there I want to document the mines that are currently operating, I will do so by contacting the people that run them, but to my knowledge I know of one (Pitstone) that has a public footpath running along side it. Then documenting the after, what goes in the quarries place once is isn’t in use, examples such as Bluewater Shopping Centre, Landfill sites and Cotswold Water Centre. My main source of inspiration for this project is John Davis’s dramatic, captivating and serene landscapes of Great Britain. His high up, well-timed, wide-angle images allow you immersive yourself within the landscape, looking at individual areas that make the big picture. For this project I am currently unsure of what format to shoot on, its either going to be medium or large format, also whether to shoot colour or black and white.
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Tutor Feedback Sounds workable at this stage however I am presuming you have access to a car? As if not you will struggle to get this shot. Maybe a more simper version would be to look at the new usage of disused quarries and mines? The Eden project and like you mentioned Bluewater all sit in old quarries/mines. Perhaps there are resources online to help you make a list of potential sites? With a list you can narrow down what and how you are going to get the project shot. The other is to look at the sites of old coalmines in Wales, Yorkshire, Notts’ or elsewhere that have been landscaped out of existence? Or old quarries in and around the SouthWest for example? Or the China Clay industry around Northern Cornwall? Large format will require disciplined process and controlled shooting and colour 4x5 is expensive and requires postal process (as the darkroom does not do c41 4x5). So perhaps consider other options like 6x7 film or high end digital with good fixed lenses? Again a list of sites will help and further research beyond peripheral ideas will shore up any issues. Contact me for advise once you have narrowed down or have list of sites and I can feedback further. Thoughts from feedback From my feedback I now need to narrow my idea down, as suggested I’m just going to look at re used quarries. I need to do some research and collate a list of ones to visit then start shooting asap. Thinking about it I might just do my project on digital just to make my life a lot easier - looking at using the 5D or similar as using digital will be easier when it comes to the printing and exhibiting process. Regenerated quarries: Bluewater Shopping Centre - Kent Eden Project - Cornwall Whitehorn Drive - Prestbury Cotswold Water Park - Gloucestershire Lakeside – Essex
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Fay Godwin
Fay Godwin is a British photographer “she was interested in the way in which man’s interventions had sculpted landscape: drystone walls and paths were recurring features, and a fellowship at Bradford resulted in a series devoted to the post-industrial urban landscape of West Yorkshire.” (Telegraph, 2005.) Fay Godwin’s work within her book Land has a more positive outlook onto the British landscape, she highlight the beauty within the rolling hills of Yorkshire, but also highlights issues of how man uses the land showing the contrast between wild grassland the managed fields. This is emphasised in her then more recent book Our Forbidden Land. Within Our Forbidden Land “The photographs bear witness to the precarious beauty of a landscape that is possibly about to disappear forever.” (Bello, 1991, p.24.) The book documents the ever-growing amount of land privatisation when before the land used to be common land. Companies such as the National Trust, The Military, Forestry Commission and Water Privatization such as reservoirs are suggested by Godwin to be at fault for the changing landscape. I feel that Godwin’s work informs my ideas for quarries as it is linking to how the landscape is changing due to man. It looks at the contrasts between the wild and the cultivated, though I feel that my view has a more positive outlook to the changes that are happening. http://www.djclark.com/godwin/critic.htm
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Paul Hill
Paul Hill is also a British photographer his work breaks tradition landscape ideals, his main landscape project being White Peak Dark Peak, this project is a visual essay and celebration in black and white, of the Peak District in Derbyshire. This project was documented over 12 during his time living in the area. His work breaking traditionalist landscape views as the sky is very rarely seem within his images. Similarly to Fay Godwin Hill looks at the scars on the landscape left by man but different he also looks at ones left by nature, such as fox, deer or rabbit trails. Also linking to Godwin is his documentation of the walls put in place by man showing how people are prevented from entering areas. Hills work liking to mine through the ideas of the effect of man on nature though his style of shooting isn’t something that I feel I will adopt, I enjoy the traditionalist landscape ideals too much, how the sky sits within the landscape is something I feel is important as it gives you a greater idea of scale.
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First Shoot – Pitstone Quarry
Starting off from my initial idea I decided to photograph Pitstone Quarry as it stands today. I wanted to show an overview of what it looks like and how it sits within the landscape and how it can benefit wildlife. For this shoot I shot on the Canon 5dmkIII with the 17-40mm L lens. My investigation led me up a steep path that ran along side the quarry and up to the top of hill that is protected under the rights of outstanding natural beauty. The hill allowed me to have a really good high vantage point over Pitstone and the quarry. This high vantage point allowed me to look over the quarry and show the variation within the landscape and where the quarry sits in relation to the surrounding fields and houses. It also allowed you to see the retired quarries that are no longer used. On returning down the hill I captured the quarry, as it would be at eye level comparing the white chalk quarry to the steep grassy hill. This eye level also allowed for a more detailed understating of the textures and colours within the chalk quarry. When leaving the footpath I decided to shoot the protective barrier of trees around the quarry as a way of showing how it is considered to be unsightly and must be hidden for the public eye. This might have also been done for security reasons but the quarry is easily accessible through the trees. If feel that this shoot went okay and that some of the images within it will be usable for the 4 10x8 hand in, in a couple of weeks.
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Field Lecture Trip 1 Person 5A – Rebecca Thorp The Range – Cheltenham (just up from Tescos!) Who owned The Ranges premises beforehand? How old is this retail unit. Where is the previous company trading from now in Cheltenham and what does this move say about their retail activities and its impact on the landscape and global culture? What evidence can you spot close by (now disused) that points to a more idealized view of the world (two sites). This is The Range (obviously) and if you want copious amounts of tat and stuff you never thought you needed, this is the place for you. Behind this building is the Neptune Business Centre, which was officially opened in 2007. The Neptune Business Centre marked the first significant industrial development in Cheltenham for over 20 years, competing with the construction of the Gallagher and Centrum retail Parks. The building that The Range is in was here before the development and is over 30 years old. There are roughly 50 companies trading on this park such as Kwik Fit. The Range has been here for roughly 3 years before The Range the company here was Homebase that is now situated further up the A40 in Centrum Park just before Gallagher Retail Park. Centrum and Gallagher are situated further out of town and more towards Swindon Village and Hatherley. As seen earlier there are a lot more shops at Gallagher and Centrum is walking distance away, this is the main reason for Homebase moving, there are more customers there, better facilities as they are newer and better buildings than the Range. The move isn’t a bad thing for the residents nearby, it means that they now don’t have to travel all the way into town to do their shopping, they can just go to the retail parks where parking is free and the shops are closer together, less walking, less hassle – people these days just want easy shopping. But the issue with this is that the parks may have an effect on the high street shops. As more businesses move out of the town to retail parks the more business parks will be built, the more big companies will move out taking the draw of the high street away making it harder for smaller less desirable businesses to do well as most things can be now be bought on the internet. The more land will be built on creating more urban sprawl, the more cars will be driving to the retail parks, they will make more traffic by those traveling from the other side of town, retail parks are also less accessible by the elderly. Gallagher is where the furniture store, Oak furniture land has moved too this is because of there being more customers in Gallagher retail park in comparison on here where there are only two stores. Another disused part of this area is the foot subway that used to run under the A40
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Chosen Images
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I chose these four images for the hand in because I feel that they were the strongest out of the ones I took, they also showed what I went out to investigate: how the quarry sits within the landscape. The First image shows an overview of the quarry and how it sits within the land. I feel that this image isn’t the best due to under exposure of the grass and it overall looks very dull due to the weather. I also feel that the lens I sued wasn’t the best of this type of
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image though I haven’t had much experience in shooting these styles of landscape photos. I will definitely want to re shoot this photo. The second image I feel is stronger than the first aesthetically, the light is far better within this image as it highlight the chalk effectively. I also like the contrast between the chalk and the grass hill and the detail of the ground in the foreground. I feel that this image may be stronger from a higher angle, as you would be able to see more of the lake within the image. I feel that this image shows a strong idea of the effect of man on the landscape but the lake and created environment can show a positive towards the quarry. Overall I really like the tones within this image and feel that it is a strong accompaniment to the other images within the series. The third image within the set of four is my favourite. It is overall very appealing to the eye especially the neutral earthy tones. I also like this image because of how these rocks have been placed where by man and will be here for many of potentially hundreds of years to come. I like the framing within this image and how it still shows the quarry in the background. The last image isn’t my favourite but I feel it adds a different angle and understanding the quarry. It shows it hidden from the public eye to hide the unsightly quarry. To hide it from trespassers pretending like it doesn’t exist. The tones within the second, third and forth image match well and sit well together in a series, the first on the other hand doesn’t sit well at all and defiantly needs to be re shot in better weather/light. Overall I feel that these images have given me the starting foot to look for more quarries and how they affected nature. As suggested in feedback I am going to start looking into places that were once quarries such as the Eden Project and Bluewater Shopping Centre.
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New Proposal Having sat on this idea for a while and contemplated it, I don’t feel like it is strong enough nor links in other work of mine. The field lectures it was discussed how British housing looks so different in comparison to say German housing or any other country. We spoke about how messy British architecture and houses look, this because of how people personalise their front garden and extend their houses for optimal space not aesthetics. Because of this field lecture and other discussions with my tutor, I am going to look into Britishness in the landscape as it is also linking to my dissertation that I am currently writing. Using a Quote by Liz Wells “The British landscape encompasses emblems of land ownership, such as hedges, fences and gates as well as dwellings of various sizes.” (Wells, 2011, p.164) From this quote I want to investigate Britishness through houses and land management. I want to capture repetitive housing estates which have differences in fencing, landscaping, paint work, cars, caravans, showing how people claim their ownership on the land and make it their own. I also want to document the different but very similar style of houses that make up our landscape. I will shoot this project in a similar style to my previous projects and will be looking at works by Paul Graham, Simon Roberts and the Becher’s. Specifically Paul Grahams first major project House Portraits as the style of shooting is similar to my view for my project. Along with Graham I will also be examining the Becher’s work because of their straight views when shooting and repetitive nature to their work. Simon Roberts We English body of work will be informing my work also, as his work manages to document an idea of pure Britishness within the landscape. This project will be shot on the Canon 5dMkiii and will be shot in RAW so to allow for larger file sizes and easier and more in depth image correction. The images will be outputted in colour so to depict a true view of the British landscape.
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Raymond Moore
Raymond Moore is a British Photographer who “started his artistic career as a painter. He was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, in 1920, and after studying at Wallasey College of Art he won an exhibition scholarship to the Royal College of Art at the age of 27. After graduation, he gradually came to realise that photography offered him a more appropriate medium for his art than painting.” (Roy Hammans, 2008) He is consider to be one of the more influential British Photographers who went onto teach photographers such as John Davies. His work once again simialry to Hill and Godwin looking at the effects of man on nature and how it sat within the land. Though differently from hill and Godwin Moore was “concerned not with the subject of the photograph itself but rather with ‘the no-mans land between the real and the fantasy’ as Moore himself put it.” (Roy Hammans, 2008) Moore’s work isn’t something that directly links to my new idea though I do like his photo of the house; I like the framing and how it is isolated and all you attention is drawn to this one singular building. I feel that this is something I could bring into my idea. http://www.fine-photographs.co.uk/index.php/display-as-list/55-raymond-mooreintro
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John Davies
John Davies “is one of today’s most outstanding British photographers, he became famous through his research on the English industrial landscape, observed in vast and detailed views…John Davies’s work belongs to the world of contemporary documentary photography. Faithful to a refined, pure black and white, taken on as the absolute rule of a subtle, analytic style. He chooses the vastness of space inhabited by the powerful elements of nature and the contradictory ones of culture to operate in two directions. On the one hand, the evocation of emotional states through the photographic rendering of a space-light that is alive, almost metaphysical, and recalls the symbolisation of the forces of nature in Turner. On the other, a crystal-clear gaze that sounds the material aspects of the contemporary landscape which is tied to the development of the productive activities and concrete structuring of the world through the moulding power of economy and property”. (Valtorta, 2000)
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Davies started off his photographic career photographing the natural sights of the Northern England, places such as Cumbria and The Highlands he then progressed onto a more man made landscape. This is the work which gained his fame within the landscape world. He documented the way that humans use the landscape, how they have changed it and how it is changing Artist’s statement “The British Landscape project is typical of my working practice. It is a long-term ongoing project about the enormous changes that have taken place in the UK – the world’s first industrial society and the first to de-industrialise. This work is self-initiated and focuses on the industrial heartlands of Britain. I attempt to create a narrative by image sequences to tell visual stories about process, change and transformation. Much of Britain’s infrastructure and the rapid expansion of industrial cities were created through the unprecedented growth of the Industrial Revolution. By the early 1980’s, when I started this project, many of these large-scale industries and industrial communities were in terminal decline. The British Landscape is both a coherent body of work using image as metaphor and an historical topographic survey, viewed from an independent contemporary perspective, of the remains of massive industrial and population growth and the impact of subsequent de-industrialisation, shrinkage, regeneration and experiments in planning new communities. I show urban development through a multi-layered perspective that captures moments in the stories of a continually changing and expanding urban structure. I do not attempt to simplify the complex evolution of a post-industrial and post-imperialist society but explore our relationship to the multi-faceted layers of our urbanised landscape. I document an economy that is now divorced from geography and the evident social consequences of this. These photographs are made deliberately in an un-sensational and often understated way to allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions and to avoid imposing my own view of urban change. I do use text purposefully alongside my images to give political, social and historical context to specific structures and places. For example, I factually describe the changes in the use of old industrial buildings that have become transformed for a ‘new economy’ of financial services, administration, retail and leisure. A fundamental aspect of my approach to landscape is the sense of power it can symbolise and evoke. Images of land, water and sky can become metaphors, which reflect our emotional and spiritual states. But the landscape can also represent power in terms of land ownership and material wealth. It is this dual and often ambiguous representation of the metaphysical and the material in the landscape that underlies my photographic work. I believe in the beauty of truth rather than the truth of beauty even though the meaning of visual truth can be challenging and often fluid. My work attempts to raise questions about our collective responsibility in shaping the environments in which we live.” (Davies, n.d) http://www.johndavies.uk.com/abiog.htm Davies work is incredibly visually appealing with a lot of time and patience behind it and that is evident in the work, it is precise and clean. I feel that I don’t have the correct equipment to create a document similar to this, but I can clearly see the importance of it historically. This is something that I want to bring through my work potentially; I want to create something of historic importance.
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John Myers
John Myers work is something that I have reaped inspiration from. His series Middle England is pure simplicity but shows a true depiction of the British landscape. His project Houses as seen above is something I feel that my work will relate to. I like how each house looks different through how it is decorated and planted, how you can tell them apart not by the buildings but by the cars and the plants in the front gardens. I feel that these images are very British and this is something I want my images to be like, very British.
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Following on from Myers houses, his project “Substations” he equally boring and simple images of substations, they are nothing out of the ordinary nor something special, this similar to his house images. “Myers claims that the people and places he photographed were ordinary, neither particularly attractive nor particularly strange, but to read these pictures of a contained 1970s world today is to be struck above all by their pastness, which is a distinct form of strangeness and one tinged with melancholy.” (Denison, 2012) After looking at both Houses and Substations I feel that the banal and ordinary is something that I am drawn to. I want that to come across within my images as I feel that it will work well in a gallery and in my portfolio, as pictures of houses is something anyone can relate to and can focus on for a periods of time because everyone is nosey and everyone wants to see what other peoples houses look like.
http://www.johnmyersphotographs.com/writings-on-simon.php
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Test Shoot One - Cheltenham
I feel that this shoot went relatively well as starter ideas. There were strong hopes for the top left images and the bottom left. I feel that these images have the strongest sense of Britishness about them. I also feel that these two images work well together. None of these images will be used for the final exhibition as the camera used is of lower quality than the 5d miii that I have booked out for this coming week. There is a possibility of using them for my 8x10 hand ins that will go alongside my larger images. After looking at Myers work I took inspiration in his style of houses that he shot but felt that the lighting within his images would be difficult to replicate at this time of year but saying this I feel that flat un shadowed light fits better with the British weather stereotype.
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I feel that this image portrays what I went out to photograph, I really like the tall conifer in the front of the house, which has begun to tower over the building. Along with this I feel that the well kempt bushes around it really highlight British life and how to are concerned with how people view our wealth and us. If you have a messy garden you are considered to be a less of a person and have less money.
Along with the previous image I feel that this works with it quite well, I feel that the union jack flag adds another element of Britishness to the photo and that along with the
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architecture it makes it very strong. I will defiantly want to re shoot both this house and the other as I feel that they could quite easily be use for the large prints in the exhibition.
Along with the images of houses I investigated the more literal and obvious ideas of ownership. This mainly including fences showing that this is my land and I live here, please leave me alone I want my privacy. How British. I like the images/ the idea but I don’t feel that they are stronger enough against the images of the houses. It was a good idea to test but realistically I prefer the images of the houses.
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Bernd and Hilla Becher
The Becher’s are a big influence in my work and is very clearly evident in my style of shooting. My work in keeping in with their straight on style with correct verticals. There work is sleek, simple, repetitive and visually appealing. The difference between their work and mine is that there is no evident country of origin within their images; they could really be anywhere at all. Where as my idea is that this could be anywhere in Britain but you know is Britain.
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Mark Power
Mark Power - “Destroying the Laboratory for the Sake of the Experiment (DTLFTSOTE) is a collaboration with the poet Daniel Cockrill. This multifaceted project began in 2006 as an experiment and continued, off and on, until 2010. Together we travelled to different parts of England, to a particular a town or city, and shared similar experiences, reacting independently. It was an exercise in seeing, and selecting what each of us thought interesting or important at any given time.An exhibition at the Atlas Gallery in 2010 suggested a variety of two- and three-dimensional answers to the perennial problem of using image and text (in this case Dan’s poems) together. But, ultimately,
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more interesting is the way that a random combination of pictures and spoken word can throw up, by chance, juxtapositions which can alter the meanings of either, or both.” I have always liked Mark Power’s work, mainly is projects based in the UK - they document irony and complete Britishness within our landscape. He shows us the Britain we know but rarely see within landscape photography. His work has been the a main inspiration for my project because of his use of colour which hasn’t been seen in previous research examples. He way of shooting isn’t something that I will adopt within this project because as stated before I feel that the straight on way of shooting similar to the Becher’s works better in isolating my subjects and will work well in a gallery. I feel that Power’s images are too messy and would be better in a book than in a gallery. http://www.markpower.co.uk/projects/DTLFTSOTE
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Paul Graham
Continuing on the theme of British photographers, one of the most famous and influential is Paul Graham, this being because of his ground breaking use of colour film back in the 1980’s because his use of colour took him away from the documentary ideal. His project Troubled Land “surveyed the everyday landscape from a distance and found tiny, telling details – soldiers running through residential streets, a union flag flying high in a distant tree, faded posters stuck on the reverse of a roadside sign – that reflected how the conflict had insinuated itself into the minutiae of ordinary life.” (Liz Jobey, 2009) The bright and sunny weather within his images contradict the negativity going on during the time of the troubles. His images are subtle but effective in portraying the troubles in a neutral way; it is just a documentation of what he saw from an outsider’s
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point of view. Grahams images show to me hwo you can go into a situation and work it toy our own potential. He evidently didn’t want to take portraits of the situation but instead wanted to show how the landscape was affected. His and Power’s use of colour is something that I will look at when shooting my work as both have vibrant colours which stand out on the page, so should stand out on a wall also. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/mar/02/paul-graham-shimmerpossibility
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Donovan Wylie
Donovan Wylie has created a large amount of work in Northern Ireland, h started shooting the troubles when it first started similar to Graham but he continued his documentation and still continues it today.
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Wylie grew up during the conflicts in Northern Ireland, and his photography reflects this. His work documents the political and social issues within the country which is done subtly but successfully. One of his most successful documentary pieces was a project entitled “Maze” “The Maze prison was opened in 1976 at the height of the conflict in Northern Ireland. It held both republican and loyalist prisoners in its eight identical H-blocks. Through its history of protests, hunger strikes and escapes, the Maze became synonymous with the Northern Ireland conflict. After the Belfast peace agreement in 1998, inmates were gradually released, but the Maze remained open. Between 2002 and 2003 Donovan Wylie spent almost a hundred days photographing inside the prison. Gradually he came to understand the psychology of the architecture and its ability to disorient and diminish. Following a sustained period of peace, and to symbolize the end of the conflict, demolition of the prison began in 2007. Wylie returned to the site to systematically record its demise. The methodical destruction that he witnessed suggests that the work is moving to a conclusion, but as the site is returned to the landscape, if offers no conclusions, no answers.” http://www.belfastexposed.org/exhibition/maze_20078 Wylies project Maze isn’t something that I would consider documenting but what interests me about this project is the continuous use of neutral de-saturated tones through the work, if this work to be hung along side each other within a gallery it would work very well as the theme would be continuous through out – this is something that I will have to think about when composing my final images and my large exhibition print.
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John Duncan
Orange Halls “The series examines the meeting halls of the Protestant Orange Order of which there are over 600 across Northern Ireland. The majority of these are in rural locations known to few outsiders. With roots in agrarian secret societies The Order was established in the Eighteenth Century to affirm the principals of the Protestant Reformation and to this end its members are amongst the staunchest defenders of the British monarchy and the constitution. I was interested in the defensive architecture of these isolated outposts and what they might reveal about The Orders current relationship to wider society. In recent years the Orange Order has had a decline in membership reflecting a shift to a more secularised society and alienation by members around the violence associated with their annual parades. The halls themselves have also been under arson attack from people opposed to their activities.� http://www.johnduncan.info/work/orahal/orahal00.html
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Similar to Donovan Wylie, Duncan has documented the aftermath of the conflicts in Ireland and Northern Ireland, his equally as subtle. I chose to include his work in my research not because of his subject and idea but because of his composition and clean style of shooting. I like the tones he has used and how he has focused onto one subject, both of these elements will make for stronger final pieces, as they will all link nicely together. Something I need to remember when shooting.
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Cheltenham Shoot Two
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This was the first shoot with the 5d and the first shoot during this course where I’ve had to consider my actions at the time, and how those actions would affect the final outcome when enlarged for exhibition. This shoot taught me that I defiantly have to use a tripod because even at a relatively high shutter speed (200th of a second) I had definite camera shake when enlarging to 70cm wide and zooming the image to 100%. This camera shake is evident by how soft the image was and the lack of detail in the brickwork and along the edges of the houses.
The image at this size looks perfectly sharp and would be easily usable for a book and for my 8x10 hand in but when enlarged is a unsuitable for my final exhibition print. As Seen in this screen shot of the house enlarged and zoomed in to 100%.
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Though the previous image had slight camera shake, this photo was the one that was worst effected. The camera shake can be seen clearly through out the image but most distractingly on the flag that is the focal point of the photo. When I took this photo I was rushing and just didn’t take my time. For all of the photos in the shoot I should have really sued a tripod. I feel that if I hadn’t made this mistake then I wouldn’t have seen the importance and need to use a tripod, though at the time I was annoyed I feel that this mistake has taught me to take my time and to use a tripod, mirror lock up and an external trigger and or 2 second timer so not to get shake from pressing the shutter. From this shoot I have learned the importance of taking my time and using a tripod, because of this I am defiantly going to re shoot over the next couple of the days so to get the best quality images for this exhibition. Once I have sent these images off to print I will focus on getting my 8 8x10 photos, this because of time management between juggling this project and my dissertation.
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Simon Roberts
“Simon Roberts travelled across England in a motorhome between 2007 and 2008 for this portfolio of large-format tableaux photographs of the English at leisure. We English builds on his first major body of work, Motherland (2005), with the same themes of identity, memory and belonging resonating throughout. Photographing ordinary people engaged in diverse pastimes, Roberts aims to show a populace with a profound attachment to its local environment and homeland. He explores the notion that nationhood – that what it means to be English – is to be found on the surface of
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contemporary life, encapsulated by banal pastimes and everyday leisure activities. The resulting images are an intentionally lyrical rendering of a pastoral England, where Roberts finds beauty in the mundane and in the exploration of the relationship between people and place, and of our connections to the landscapes around us. We English was published by Chris Boot Ltd (2009) and has been selected as one of the 30 most influential photobooks of the last decade (more). A major exhibition of the work was show at the National Media Museum, UK in 2010 and is currently on tour. “We English, the title of Roberts’s engrossing exhibition of large-scale color photographs (and the related book) might lead you to expect gently satiric social studies in the style of Martin Parr. But the focus of the work is primarily landscape, and several of the images are broad, handsome vistas with only a few people scattered about the terrain. Even the photographs that include larger groups were taken from a distance – a perspective that echoes classical painting, although the subjects are decidedly contemporary.” (Vince Aletti, The New Yorker, 2009) Roberts’s work from this project is something is incredible, I love how he managed to capture such Britishness within his images. How just one look at any of the photos and you would know that was England. Only the Brits walk 3 yards from a car then just sit down, not travelling far but far enough to enjoy something. They drive miles to get out of their car and just eat a sandwich. This is something I want my images to portray, a sense of Britishness.
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Along with his series Roberts includes images of his exhibitions on his website. I have found this really useful when considering how I want my images to look when I come to print them. His images within We English are bright, vibrant and eye catching. The tones match throughout and work well together. I really like his wooden frames that he’s used and how each print is the same size, keeping a symmetrical uniform feel. During the exhibition I need to remember to get installation shots so to do the same as Simon Roberts and put them on my website which will boost my cv. The title of his project is also very welcoming as it is something most in the UK can relate to. He is making a statement and observation and I feel it has created a really strong body of work.
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Cheltenham Shoot Three
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During this shoot the sun wasn’t in my favour for the house with the flag due to heavy shadowing on the right hand side of the building. The images them selves are very sharp this because of the high shutter speed and use of tripod but the heavy shadowing made the images look too contrasty and not how I had envisioned the final outcome being. I feel during this shoot I have decided to focus my attention onto the house with the conifer tree and the other with the union jack flag as I feel that these two would work well together side by side, this because of the negative space around the houses and I will be able to get the same framing in both of the images, this creating a strong link between both images when hung in the gallery. Which is important as seen in the strength of Roberts, Duncan and The Becher’s work.
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Cheltenham Shoot Four
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The day after my overly sunny shoot there was a dramatic change in the weather as pictured, and I felt that this weather conditions would add depth and atmosphere to my images. I really liked the light and how the fog seemed to frame the houses. I felt that fog and obvious cold weather added interest to the simple house photos. I knew that these images were going to be sharp as I took my time and used the tripod and a 2 second shutter release. During this shoot I also focused my attention on the man made landscape we live in, focusing on obviously man planted trees and constructed islands in the middle of ponds, these images I have in mind for my 8x10s, but I will think about this more after I have obtained photos I feel happy enough to print large.
Focusing first onto this house during my shoot, I feel really happy with this image, I like the framing and after correcting the verticals in Lightroom I feel hat I would be happy to use this as one of my final images. When enlarging the images to 70cm wide and zooming in to 100% the images hold their quality well and feel that if I wanted to print larger I could easily do so.
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Along with the previous house, I feel that this one is also strong enough to be a final print. This image is defiantly sharp enough at 70cm zoomed to 100%. Maybe I could do both images at 80cm wide each. I really like how you can see the fall of frost in the image along the side of the conifer and how there is a pigeon on the TV ariel of the neighbouring house. Both of these houses have a strong sense of Britishness, the first image obviously because of the union jack, highlighting that they are proud to be British, but also through the random garden ornaments near the front door of the left house, and the random plant in pots. I also really like the TV ariels on the roof as I feel that they add to the symmetry of the building, this is also very British. The second image also has a strong sense of Britishness, this mainly through the tall conifer at the front of the house, but also the carefully pruned hedges which is over looked by an obtrusive TV satellite dish on the side of the neighbours house. I feel that the second image has a strong sense of weather than the first, this because of the more looked after front garden, this linking to my idea of people showing off their supposed weather through their house and decoration. I feel that both of these images would work well together in a gallery side by side. I would need to colour correct both images so that the tones and colours match in both.
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Need to Re Shoot
After showing my images that I thought were my finals to my tutor he informed me that because of the fog the images would print soft and if I were to re shoot I would capture far more detail in the brickwork. This was a valid point but very frustrating as the deadline to have images sent off to print is in 4 days, and the current weather is 40+ mph winds. During my re shoot I need to make sure that I have no camera shake at all as I can’t afford to mess this up and miss the print deadline. The main issue I faced in his re shoot was renting a camera of high enough quality to be able to enlarge the images. The 5D was rented, the Pentax full frame was rented, all the 70d’s were rented. In the end I had to borrow the MA Canon 6D, I was very relived to be able to rent this camera otherwise I would have had to use images that I had previously shot that weren’t the sharpest.
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Cheltenham Last Minute Re Shoot
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This shoot wasn’t the best, the weather was awful I kept on getting water droplets on the lens which were visible in many of the images of the conifer house, because of this only one of the images was useable. This is the only image from this shoot that was okay, it will need a lot of editing such a noise removal and sharpening but I think it will print, not the feeling I wanted for one of my final images but I’m going to have to use it as if I use one from another shoot the tones and light conditions wont match. I not going to print that large, thinking of just hitting the minimum size. What I do like in this image is the pigeon sat on the TV ariel, this was also in the fog image and I’m glad I managed to keep that element in my re shoot (completely coincidental.) When looking at the fog images then looking at the new re shoots I can see why it was suggested, these images have a lot more colour depth and pop to them. I’m now glad that I re shot, it was worth the stress and the hassle.
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This image is also the only useable one from the shoot and it is awful, I didn’t shoot central as I wanted the flag to be in the centre of the house but as soon as I got back I realised this was a stupid mistake, I tired to correct the verticals but it just looked wrong. Along with this the image its self wasn’t of good enough quality to enlarge as it as soft, this because of the strong winds shaking the tripod and camera. I am going to have to use a different photo from a previous shoot of this house to go along side the conifer house. I hope I can come back with some strong work from this stupid mistake.
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Printing Options
When thinking about printing my images, I have only ever envisioned them being Matt. The PrintSpace offers: matt, metallic, gloss or Fiji flex, which is a super gloss almost like plastic apparently, these are all C Type digital print options. I feel that neither of the gloss prints will work with my work, nor will the metallic, this because of the nature of my images. Brick and grass isn’t shiny it is matt there for I feel that I should print matt, also it will show less reflections when in the gallery. Fuji Matt: “Fuji Crystal Archive paper with a semi-matt finish. The paper is coated with a slightly stippled finish and gives a very natural photographic finish with subtle colour.” – I think that even with a semi-matt finish my work will be best suited to this option. For my images I am going to be printing two so that they can sit alongside or on top of each other in the gallery. I feel that this will enhance the idea of photographing in a series, linking to my 8x10s, but also the images will be more aesthetically pleasing and will look less odd with just having an image of a house on its own. Having done the price checker on the print space website, to have both images printed it will cost roughly £70 which I think is a reasonable price for two images. I will then be having them mounted here in Cheltenham by SquirtyInk.
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Getting Ready to Print
This image is from one of the first shoots I did for this project, it is of useable quality and there is little camera shake. The colours and tones work well along side the other house, which is a relief. I now need to get the colours, tones and framing to match in both houses otherwise they wont sit well together in the gallery.
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Getting it Right
I thought I had these two prints ready to send off but when comparing them side my side you can clearly see that one sky has blue tones where as the other has neutral greys, also the bottom image is slightly darker than the top. As well as this neither of these have been soft proofed against the Printspace’s colour profiles.
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Final touches and colour corrections on the house took a while. There was a lot of sharpening and noise reducing to be done which I knew about as soon as I saw the original image. I reduced the greys in the sky so to try and match the other house. I have corrected the verticals and made sure that the house is central in the frame. I have soft proofed it against the colour profiles of the printspace and increased the exposure and contrast so to make sure that they pop on the walls, which Simon Robert’s work did.
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This is the final image for this house, I feel relatively happy about it – there is some detail loss in the tree but nothing that will be overly noticeable. I have had to sharpen and noise reduce quite a bit, but I feel that I have done a good enough job. I also reduced the blues in the sky so to try and match the other photo. If I reduced them too much I lost a lot of detail and it became very noisy, so this is the best result I could get. This image has also been soft proofed and colour corrected against the colour profiles, but also matched to the other image. I feel that both images will print well as the quality when enlarged to 80cm and zoomed to 100% is pretty good. The only issue I have found is that because of my choice of lens (17-40mm) I have lost quite a bit of detail in the edges of the images and this is something I have learnt for next time I do a project similar to this. I need to use a less distorting wide lens and stick with a fixed focus such as a 50mm. I feel that this doesn’t take away from the images as the houses them selves are in focus, but to create a better quality print having a more suitable lens would be a better idea.
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Final Images
House 1 – Fuji Matt, digital C Type print, 80x54cm (including 5mm border)
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House 2 – Fuji Matt, digital C Type print, 80x54cm (Including 5mm border) Both of these images will be printed on Matt paper at the PrintSpace. I am finally happy with these two photos, after a lot of stress, re shoots and editing I feel that they will be of good enough quality when they arrive. I feel that they will work well together in the gallery as they match in tones and framing. Because of the colour correcting I hope that they sit well on the wall and pop in colour to draw the public in. Now to start photographing my 8x10 images to go along side these two in the gallery.
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Prints Arrival
I’m really happy with how the prints look, the colours match well and the framing also, they are the correct size and the photos seem to be of good quality. I’m glad that I went with a matte finish as I feel it complements the flat grey sky but also the flat style of shooting, if they were gloss I feel that reflections when viewing would be a distraction. My over attentiveness to image quality, noise and sharpening paid off. I can’t want to get them up in the gallery to see how well they work amongst the rest of the work.
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The New Topographics
“The term "new topographics" was coined by William Jenkins, curator of a group show of American landscape photography held at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The show consisted of 168 rigorously formal, black-andwhite prints of streets, warehouses, city centres, industrial sites and suburban houses. Taken collectively, they seemed to posit an aesthetic of the banal.” (O’Hagan, 2010, para 1.) “New Topographics photography questioned the supposed distinction between cultural and natural landscapes. In doing so, the New Topographics photographers often formally refer to and ironize past images of “pristine” wilderness, such as those by nineteenth century U.S.” (Dennis, 2005, p.1.)
New Topographic photographers consisted of people such as Nichols Nixon, Lewis Baltz and Robert Adams. The exhibition also included American work by the Becher’s. This movement was heavily influential onto British landscape photography, as seen in Nixon’s work (above) which John Davies’s work heavily resembles.
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First 8x10 Shoot
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The issue I’m facing during this project is a moral issue – I’m struggling to take photos of peoples houses without causing an issue or feeling like I’m invading their privacy. I know I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m stood on public land and making sure in my images that you cant see inside peoples houses. I feel that this first shoot wasn’t the most productive, I’m struggling to find houses that fit/ match the larger prints. The main element in those is a lot of space around the houses and they have grass breaking up the bottom section of the photo. I could try and break up this pattern in my 8x10s if I struggle to find houses that fit with these qualities. I feel that there are two successful images from this shoot but I will continue taking photos over the next week then decide which ones I will use once I have collated enough images.
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Second 8x10 Shoot
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This shoot was an attempt to link together this image from one of my first shoots that doesn’t fit in with anything. I focused mainly on fences with elements of green within them. Again none of these worked and didn’t at all link to my other images of the houses. I think that this photo will just be un-usable in this project and this shoot was completely pointless, though I needed to do it to be able to realise this.
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Third 8x10 Shoot
This shoot was done in and around Winchcombe and Gotherington, this because of the lack of houses that fit into the style that I wanted. I had an issue mainly with the sun light as it sat behind most of the houses I took photos of, this causing heavy shadowing at the front of the building, but because I shot on RAW I feel that this wont be too much of an issue when I come to edit down. Feel that from this shoot I have managed to get at least 4 useable photos to be used for my 8x10s.
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Last 8x10 Shoot
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I feel that because of my time running out, this will be my last shoot. This last shoot took place in Prestbury just outside Cheltenham. I mainly focused my attention onto semi-detached houses as I feel that they show the most contrast in ownership. You could have one house with amazing gardens yet your neighbour could just have an empty from lawn. I really like some of my images from this shoot but I know that they wont match the style of the other images, as they were taken straight on. I now need to look through the images I’ve taken and work out which will work along side each other and the main prints.
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Getting Work on the Walls
Finally seeing my work on the wall is a great relief, a lot of hard work, waiting and time went into this. I’m really happy with how my images look and where they sit in the gallery. They are to the side but along with my images working really well together, they work well along side the others in my area. Overall I am very happy with how my work looks together and feel that the matching framing and tones really adds to the work. It was really important for me to get my to work to work in a series when in a gallery is really important, this evident form my research especially seen in the Becher’s and Roberts.
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Informative Exhibition Description It took me a while to come up with this description; I knew what I wanted to say. I wanted to describe how people claim their land by personalising it, and also showing that they have more money than their neighbour, this personalisation and wealth can be shown through their front garden or types of cars. Overall I feel that my description manages to get across what my idea is though I do feel that if I had more time to come up with it, it would have been a lot cleaner and to the point. Ownership The British are obsessed with housing; it’s how we define wealth. The bigger the house the more money we are believed to have. Within Britain over 17 million people own their own homes, each putting their mark on the land, showing they have more money than others. This done by planting trees, building new houses and extending existing ones, ownership is marked out by fences, hedges, and walls. Houses make us who we are as Britons. This body of work examines the different housing within Britain and how people define their ownership on the land.
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Final 8x10 Prints
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These are my 12 final 8x10 images. I feel that they depict what I went out to photograph. There is a large variation in house style this is because I could find enough houses that matched the larger prints so I decided to have a big mixture of styles so make it easier for myself because of lack of time. I feel that the semidetached houses are better at showing the difference in how people personalise their houses but aesthetically the detached houses look better in the frame. It would have been better if the weather conditions were consistent through the photos similar to the larger prints but realistically this would have been to difficult in the space of time that I had. I like the variation in how people present their houses, some choose to block out every inch of light with plants, while others go for a simple grass lawn or fence. I have tired to match the tones as best as I possibly could, but was hindered by the different weather and light conditions. I feel that either the camera or the lens I used really let me down, as there is a lot of noise within these images, but they should be fine for an 8x10 print. I’m overall relatively happy with how these images have turned out, but deep down know I could have produced better work if I had allowed myself more time and did more research into different areas to shoot, rather than just driving around hoping to find something that suited. I like the comparison to the older and new houses, how modern day architects are still using the same styles as houses dating back to the 18th century. It shows how the British idolise village life, and how they believe all houses should be quaint cottages, this evident in the second image and the last. I feel that overall the most successful images of the set are the ones with grass in the front of the house, as it links to the large prints but also breaks up the frame making a more visually appealing image.
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Evaluation
This project has taught me a lot of information about printing and shooting for exhibition that I didn’t know; it has also caused me a lot of stress, but worthwhile stress in the end. My initial idea was to take photos of quarries and show how they could have a positive impact on the environment and development opportunities such as Bluewater and the Eden Project, looking back at it was a weak idea. It was unrealistic in the time frame as we had, as it required a lot of travelling, but also the lack of light we had due to the time of year, because of this and being informed by the field lectures and my dissertation I changed my idea dramatically. I decided to focus onto the British housing stock. I’m glad that I changed my idea when I did as it still allowed time for development in my project, and allowed me time to focus onto one subject to make sure the images were of good enough quality to print. The main issues I faced during this project were ones of moral issues, I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong photographing peoples houses as I was on public land, but I felt like I was invading peoples privacy. Because of this, next time I think I will confront people who live in the houses asking if its okay, this happening on two occasions and the guilt lifted when photographing their houses. Another issue I faced during this project was image quality and being worried that the files weren’t good enough quality to enlarge. Looking back I feel that I could have taken more time in shooting to make sure that were was no shake and that the image was sharp. I also feel that next time I would use a different lens to avoid distortion at the edges of my images. Because of the image quality issues I think next time I would shot on film just to add that extra value to my work but also there would be less concern about enlarging my images and loosing quality and sharpness. The images themselves I am relatively happy with, I think that elements do portray what I wanted to get across – this not necessarily evident in my large prints though, but more so in my 8x10s. Looking back I think my idea would have been better put across only taking photos of semi-detached houses as it would allow for a direct comparison between identical houses. I also feel that my 8x10s could have been of better image quality, this would have been improved with choice of lens. More time could have been spent on my 8x10s and I feel that my time management let me down there. Overall I feel that there is possible expansion on this project, to continue documenting British housing in a similar style would be interesting as I really enjoy working in series. This style of shooting is something I want to continue so to develop a noticeable style of work. I think that my final outputted images are something that I should be proud of as my large prints are sharp and my 8x10s depict what my project is about. I feel that with more work this could be a very strong body of work that could be exhibited again in galleries. I am finishing this module happy with the work I have produced and looking forward to developing it further.
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